Repeat C-Sections safer than VBACS

The study, known as the Birth After Caesarean (BAC) study, is the first of its kind in the world. It involves more than 2300 women and their babies and 14 Australian maternity hospitals. The results are published this week in the international journal,PLoS Medicine.

The study shows that infants born to women who had a planned elective repeat cesarean had a significantly lower risk of serious complications compared with infants born to mothers who had a vaginal birth following a prior cesarean -- the risk of death or serious complication for the baby is 2.4% for a planned vaginal birth, compared with 0.9% for a planned elective repeat cesarean.

The mothers of these babies were also themselves less likely to experience serious complications related to birth. For example, the risk of a major hemorrhage in the mother is 2.3% for a planned vaginal birth, compared with 0.8% for a planned elective repeat cesarean.

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"My Dad always used to tell me that if they challenge you to an after-school fight, tell them you won't wait-you can kick their ass right now." CD

My OB won't do VBACS either, he doesn't even really discuss that. I believe he would refer you to another OB and they would probably only do it at a major hospital with plenty of docs on hand. He made a good point, even 1 in 100 is a lot of ruptures! I was initially interested in learning about VBACS but I am somewhat relieved to go with RCS.

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"My Dad always used to tell me that if they challenge you to an after-school fight, tell them you won't wait-you can kick their ass right now." CD

Majority of the VBAC OBs will tell you that a VBAC is safer for mom, but a RCS is easier for the baby. To be truthful that can be said about a regular vaginal birth, because it is stressful. The UR is less than 1% and increases slightly when a VBAC patient is being induced. However, UR in c/s is a little higher for moms who have had 2 or more c/s especially if they are close.

I am grateful that ALL of my OBs are VBAC friendly even when 2 of them can't do them. I am also glad that the ACOG stands firmly behind a TOL for moms who are candidates for VBACs...instead of running and performing c/s.

In the end I am GLAD that I am going for a VBAC, because when I weigh the pros and cons...VBAC is much more safer than another c/s for me. If I have to have another c/s then so be it, but our goal and all of my OBs are extremely supportive.

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"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally." Abe Lincoln

I am personally happy that my OB is willing to let me try for a VBAC, her rule is that I have to go into labor naturally before my sceduled RCS date and if I don't then there is no choice, but she is giving me every opportunity to go into labor naturally and do what my body was made for. It is my ultimate goal to have a VBAC but if its better for me and baby to have a RCS than thats what I will be doing.

IMO there are so many things that "could" go wrong in a pregnancy that if we stressed too much about them at any given time, no one would have any babies. I am just going to let nature take its course. :)

I feel almost like this study was unnecessary, It's a "dur" kind of idea that a scheduled repeat section would have less medically unsavory consequences than a vbac. Using your uterus after it has been weakened by surgery for that strenuous of an activity just seems like a bad idea. I had a srcs last time and a scs the first time and this time will be a srcs with tubal ligation. No surprises (hopefully) and I am really not even worried about it. I can't wait!